Cold Weather Changes by Helen Henderson

 

Fire and Redemption by Helen Henderson
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Harvests are complete, hay is in the barn, fruit and vegetables have been put up, and the cool temperatures of autumn are shifting into the cold of winter. All signs of changing seasons. 

Various sections of the country welcome temporary visitors they called "snowbirds," people who leave the cold, ice, and snow behind for warmer temperatures. As a child, my family had our own version of the "snowbird." She was called Grammy.

As soon as the first hard frost turned the ground white, it was time to move Grammy from her mountain bungalow.The bungalow was heated by coal and it was hard for her to feed the scuttles of black rock into the furnace or to remove the ashes. Snow covered roads meant the family could no longer make the two hours or more journey from their homes in the next state to the coal county of their kin. Grammy didn't drive, however that was not a problem in the summer when the grandchildren spent a week or two at a time with her. And the parents took the elderly relative to the doctor or shopping when the younger generation was swapped out.

The cold weather solution was to turn Grammy into a snowbird and move her south. Preparations would be to fill the coal bin, bring the porch swing inside, pack up any unused food from the pantry, and lastly, to drain all the water from the pipes to winterize the bungalow. Then the winter routine began. Grammy would spend three or four weeks with one daughter and her family and then a month or two with a son and his family. The periodic shifting would continue until spring, when like those who move to the warmer climes for the winter head north to avoid the heat, she would return north to the mountains.

Dal's kin in Windmaster had a similar means of surviving the weather. To set the scene, Dal and Ellspeth rescued a young woman from a group of evil monks, earning the cult's anger. When an invading force is sighted on its way to Dal's family's winter home, a decision had to be made. Fight or flee. Dal's mother chose to use the weather as protection and moved the clan to the mountain caves that was the clan's escape from the summer heat of the valley far below. Now it would protect them from those who meant to destroy all magic -- and anyone touched by it.

After Ellspeth’s light touch woke him, Dal sat cross-legged on the floor, his back against the bed leg. An emerald gemstone the size of a small egg lay in his hand, the stone’s facets catching the glimmer of moonlight that filtered from a crack in the shutters. A spark flared in the heart of the crystal. It brightened into a green-tinted image. Dal watched a line of horses and wagons slowly wind around waist-high snowdrifts. “At least Eilidh and the clan are safe,” he whispered. “They made it safely through the pass.” He closed his eyes and released the spells that had been controlling the blizzard and holding the clan’s pursuers at bay. How long he sat there he didn’t know. He felt the energy he used to control the weather slowly flow back into his body.

~Until next month, stay safe and read.   Helen

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a matronly husky and a youthful feist who have adopted her as one the pack. Find out more about her and her novels on her BWL Author page.